Recipe: Roasted Cauliflower Spread

by Cate on February 20, 2014

An easy to make Roasted Cauliflower Spread that is high on flavor, low on guilt, and perfect however you get it into your mouth.

I feel like every time Sarah and I have gotten together and broken bread over the past few years, we have compared it to our Seattle trip in 2011. Mostly because we do. And mostly because the trip was awesome. On many accounts.

In fact, not two weeks ago, when Sarah and I were leaving a dinner hosted at the Culinary Institute of America, our Seattle trip and the food we had came up again. Which kind tells you how awesome that trip was, because, I mean, you’d think we’d be rehashing the CIA dinner we had just inhaled.

Nope.

And so all road leads to Seattle. Including this one. The first night that we arrived there, we were famished and everything was closed. We ended up back at our hotel restaurant, Lola, and it couldn’t have been more perfect (see complete restaurant review here). We decided to order a few appetizer/finger food type items off the menu, to get a good sampling of the fare, and there was a roasted cauliflower spread that was kind of amazing.

Must have been if we are still talking about it three years later.

And clearly we need to go back to Seattle.

A few weeks ago, Sarah created a riff of that cauliflower spread and brought it to our holiday bloggers dinner. It was pretty close to the one we first had at Lola. Whether you spread it on crackers, a grilled piece of chicken topped with fresh salsa, or, um, just eat it with a spoon, it’s delicious. I took her version and played with it a little more. Still delicious, even just eaten off a spoon. It would even make a great sandwich spread, if you want to skip more fattening choices like mayonnaise.

And given it is pretty much packed with vegetables and a few simple other ingredients, it is a recipe you can feel good about making and eating. No guilt here.

And just a last ps for all you anchovy haters. This recipe has anchovies in it, but you will be fine. Truth be told, I hate anchovies too. But cooking with them is another story. It delivers a nice salty one-two punch to tons of recipes and you’d never guess it was anchovies.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with nonstick aluminum foil.

Spread the cauliflower on the baking sheet. Add the garlic and anchovy fillets. Drizzle with olive oil, the anchovy oil, and pepper. Roast, stirring once, for 15-20 minutes, until the cauliflower is golden brown and tender.

Transfer the cauliflower mixture to a food processor and process until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve hot with pita wedges.